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Help please - 997.1 turbo - low oil pressure warning

RJW1881

Well-known member
Joined
10 Aug 2015
Messages
326
A little help please. I've been out for a spirited 300 mile blast in the car this morning and at about mile 250 whilst pushing quite hard round a round about I heard a beep then saw red warning message on the dash that said 'warning oil pressure to low". It was only displayed for 2 seconds then went off. I immediately backed off and everything seemed fine. About 10 miles later whist going round another round about exactly the same happened again so I pulled over and checked the oil level. It was approx 1/3 so I added 1ltr and carried on home. I tried to replicate the warning again on every round about I came across but couldn't ?

I've had the car 4 years and it used to use a ltr of oil every 3-5 thousand miles, since 9E services and re-mapped it last year I have covered 4000 miles and I haven't seen the yellow warning asking me to add oil yet. I wonder if the top up sensor has stopped working as I don't now how low it gets before it asks for a top up?

There are no strange noises or change in performance.

Anybody experience something similar or that can offer any advice it would be appreciated. Thanks. [/quote]
 
My Gen 1 used about a litre every thousand miles, my Gen 2 uses virtually nothing at all. So I think you've solved your own problem, you should have a digital oil measure which is accessed through your left hand stalk. Make sure the car is at temp and on level ground and check your level.
If you do an oil change, switch to Millers I found it used a lot less oil than the Mobil 1 that was in.
 
Oil level low or oil pressure low? Big difference. I've seen the former and its an early warning when your oil should be on the minimum level. Its 1 litre to top up from min to max.

As a general observation your turbo is using very little oil as most of these use up to 1 litre every 1000 miles so you seem to have good un.
 
Cheers for the responses guys.

The message today was 'pressure low", which was a red warning. Previously I have seen 'level low", which was not red and I took that as just meaning top up please.

I took today's message to be more serous than just needing a top up on oil?
 
RJW1881 said:
........... since 9E services and re-mapped it last year I have covered 4000 miles and I haven't seen the yellow warning asking me to add oil yet. I wonder if the top up sensor has stopped working as I don't now how low it gets before it asks for a top up?

:eek:

The only things I'm capable of doing regarding car maintenance are keeping the oil level and tyre pressures correct and to be honest I'm a bit lax on these regarding the 'daily drivers' but I'm gobsmacked that you don't do something as basic as checking the oil level on a 911 Turbo.

All you need is a warm engine, a piece of level ground and the six seconds it takes for the OBC to tell you.

If you wait until the yellow light appears you'll have been running the car with a level below the 'minimum' line on the indicator. After 4,000 miles I'm surprised that you haven't had that warning.

Regarding your oil pressure warning the driver's manual states that you should have stopped the car asap, switched off the engine and checked for obvious oil leaks before checking your oil level.
 
RJW1881 said:
......... so I added 1ltr and carried on home.

Again :eek:

You'd best check that you haven't over-filled it. That can be as bad as not having enough.
 
T8 thanks for your concern but I trust the car. I regularly check tyre pressures as I have the monitoring system disconnected. I find the car is more compliant with 28 psi front and 32 psi rear which means I have a warning light on the dash all the time if the tyre monitoring is active.

I don't check oil level any more than I would dip the petrol tank to check the fuel level? I trust the cars systems are clever enough to alert me if I need to do anything.

My only question now is do I have to do anything else other than add the oil I did earlier and I was hoping someone else on here had experienced this and was able to advise. No problem if not, I'll get in touch with Dove House and get them to check it over for me. Cheers.
 
ragpicker said:
Common description of a fault with the oil pressure sender.

If you've got plenty of oil in you won't have low pressure. Sounds like a new sensor will sort it out for you.

It lives near the oil filter housing (or it does on the 996 turbo).

:thumb:

Cheers.
 
Just a quick update. The car was in at Dove House Friday and they confirmed that the electronic oil level system is faulty and needs replacing. Basically no matter how much oil is in the car it doesn't go below 1/3 full so no amount of checking would have highlighted the issue. Something to be mindful of guys, not really sure how you could do anything to prevent it though?
 
RJW1881 said:
Just a quick update. The car was in at Dove House Friday and they confirmed that the electronic oil level system is faulty and needs replacing. Basically no matter how much oil is in the car it doesn't go below 1/3 full so no amount of checking would have highlighted the issue. Something to be mindful of guys, not really sure how you could do anything to prevent it though?

Can't prevent but there's a dipstick too :)
 
Desert Dragon said:
RJW1881 said:
Just a quick update. The car was in at Dove House Friday and they confirmed that the electronic oil level system is faulty and needs replacing. Basically no matter how much oil is in the car it doesn't go below 1/3 full so no amount of checking would have highlighted the issue. Something to be mindful of guys, not really sure how you could do anything to prevent it though?

Can't prevent but there's a dipstick too :)

First I've head about it. Where will I find it?
 
RJW1881 said:
Desert Dragon said:
RJW1881 said:
Just a quick update. The car was in at Dove House Friday and they confirmed that the electronic oil level system is faulty and needs replacing. Basically no matter how much oil is in the car it doesn't go below 1/3 full so no amount of checking would have highlighted the issue. Something to be mindful of guys, not really sure how you could do anything to prevent it though?

Can't prevent but there's a dipstick too :)

First I've head about it. Where will I find it?

I'm ever so sorry just checked and there isn't one. Always thought there was. Was confusing with one of the other cars or I'm getting early stage mild senilia!
 
I have to admit i've never come across a sensor that has failed this way .. other garages may have but it's a new one on me and as such .. ill loosely say its kinda rare .

Interested if anyone else has any info on this .. learning purposes !

you are kinda screwed as this is the only way of checking the oil lvl .. i will say if you get a low oil level .. which will be before the low pressure message then you need to act on it .

I'm also wondering .. just how much oil was needed to get it back upto max ?

Approx 11 litres of oil in the engine .. i would assume it's pretty damn low to trigger a low pressure message .

Yup there is no dipstick .. weight saving and Porsche use the oil at operating temp to get an accurate reading .. if a dipstick then people would use it cold and over fill it .

Imho .. losing the dipstick was a bit of a mistake .. but no car other than early 996/ 986 has a fitted dipstick .. Cayennes / macan have a tube for one but its a tool the workshop has and is not fitted to the car .
 
deMort said:
I have to admit i've never come across a sensor that has failed this way .. other garages may have but it's a new one on me and as such .. ill loosely say its kinda rare .

Interested if anyone else has any info on this .. learning purposes !

you are kinda screwed as this is the only way of checking the oil lvl .. i will say if you get a low oil level .. which will be before the low pressure message then you need to act on it .

I'm also wondering .. just how much oil was needed to get it back upto max ?

Approx 11 litres of oil in the engine .. i would assume it's pretty damn low to trigger a low pressure message .

Yup there is no dipstick .. weight saving and Porsche use the oil at operating temp to get an accurate reading .. if a dipstick then people would use it cold and over fill it .

Imho .. losing the dipstick was a bit of a mistake .. but no car other than early 996/ 986 has a fitted dipstick .. Cayennes / macan have a tube for one but its a tool the workshop has and is not fitted to the car .

They drained the oil to see and there was 4ltrs in it. Tony (the service guy at Dove House) said I was a very lucky guy. They checked the oil filter and no signs of any metal so looks like I got away with out any major damage. They've filled it back up with fresh oil (8ltrs apparently?) and I've brought it home until the get the parts in stock for the repair.
 

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